Great, then we'll have people putting even more important data on them without having backups. Then for no apparent reason the drive will become unusable in XP anymore.
I disagree with the implied message here, although I share the concern.
The fact is, flash memory
technology is far more reliable than mechanical storage. There's no reason for it not to be. The data stored on flash drives is stored physically and permanently using transistors and gates... Not some fragile magnetic dust sprinkled on a glass disc, hoisted on a spindle that twirls it 7200 times a minute. That's data suicide and its been that way since the 50s!
But the odd complaints people have of 'missing data' and 'mah flash drive don't work no more' raises concern. Perhaps companies are engineering pitful implementations or maybe manufacturers are totally cutting corners... But
flash storage is reliable. I double dog pinky swear.. Scouts honor.
For example, I have a 2 1/2 year old, 1GB flash drive (PQI i-Stick), which happens to be the smallest consumer flash drive available (Has been since it came out, or at least up until recently). I've plugged that thing in and out of over a thousand computers for sure and probably more than ten thousand times. I've never lost a single kilobyte. Because I keep it in my wallet, it's cracked from having my fat *** on top of it all day - and it still works!
I'm not sure what Sandisk, Lexar and company are doing, but I'm sure this random data loss stuff is not related to the reliability of well-made, flash technology.
Just gotta stick up for flash, since no one else will.
